By The World Ambassador
TWA
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This is a watershed moment for Palestine, for justice, and for international law.
Israel’s occupation has been declared unlawful by the World Court, which has stipulated that it must be terminated completely and as rapidly as possbile. This means Israel is under an obligation to end this illegal colonial enterprise unconditionally, and in our view, that means immediately and totally.
The Court also found that illegal Israeli occupation violates the UN Charter, Human Rights and International Humanitarian law, including, in particular, the prohibition of racial segregation and apartheid.
The Court further, unequivecally, declared that all Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory are illegal and must be dismantled and that all Israeli settlers must be evacuated. The Court declared that Israeli illegal occupation not only violates but eviscerates, the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination in their own land, including the right to their own State.
This ruling couldn’t be more timely or sorely needed. The Palestinian people have endured unbearable suffering and injustice for decades. Israel’s colonial, expansionist, and genocidal policies are on full, horrific display before the world. The Palestinian people are confronting a ferocious genocide and defending their very right to exist and live.
This ruling is a vindication of their steadfastness and perseverance. Today is about the brave and noble Palestinian people and their absolute, non-negotiable right to freedom from colonial control and violence. The Court said this right must no longer be denied or deferred.
The Court made clear that the Palestinian people are the ONLY sovereign in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and that the international community is under an obligation not just to reaffirm the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination but to see to it that this right is implemented immediately.
All states and the UN are now under obligation not to recognize the legality of Israel’s presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and to do nothing to assist Israel in maintaining this illegal situation. They are directed by the Court to bring Israel’s illegal occupation to an end. This means – all states and the UN must immediately review their bilateral relations with Israel to ensure their policies do not aid in Israel’s continued aggression against the Palestinian people – whether directly or indirectly.
Israel’s continued occupation is aggression, entrenched by apartheid policies, political and cultural persecution, and war crimes and crimes against humanity, that allowed the denial of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination for over 76 years. It is enabled and prolonged by impunity that has allowed Israel to commit the unthinkable – genocide – which is now unfolding before the world in Gaza and across the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
The ICJ fulfilled its legal and moral duties with this historic ruling. All States must now uphold their clear obligations: No aid. No assistance. No complicity. No money, no arms, no trade, no nothing, no actions of any kind to support Israel’s illegal occupation. All UN member states are obliged by law to end Israel’s presence on the territory of Palestine… That is what international law requires – no more and no less.
